Turn-Based Tactical Side Scrolling Shoot 'em up - In Development.

Design-a-Boss Compo Winner

We've been running this competition at the various shows we've exhibited at this year. With over 130 entries we've had a tough time picking the winner, but now that the Kickstarter is over (and successfully funded! Hooray!) it's finally time to announce the winner.

The...

Winner...

Is...

[Drum Roll]

ALL OF THE FINALISTS!

Wait. What? We tried to pick an overall winner but there were just too many aspects of each finalist's design that we were inspired by. Each of these boss designs will be used as the basis for some of the bosses in the game. We may have to make some changes here and there, but they'll be recognisably based on your designs.

Well done to...

Alex Saxton

Alex Wylie

Guilherme Töws

Brodie Gibson

C Barrett

Huw Jacobs

Ben Jones

Henry Barton-wong

Sean Innes

Jason Turner

Finn Rose

Jolyon Webb

NOTE: Winners, Please email us at compo@sockthuggery.com to confirm the spelling of your name for the credits.

The Winners

Finalist 1 by Huw Jacobs

This entry has cleverly taken into account our planned 'inside a monster' set of levels (sneak previewed in the teaser video), where the player will be fighting through enemy cells and even internal parasites. The inclusion of "immune system cells" fits into this theme perfectly. The bit we liked the most however is the friendly ship trapped in the wall. Could it become an ally? Could the player salvage it for parts? Could it become an enemy if we approach it the wrong way? Maybe it has a kind of icky, infected abscess around it so rescuing it will be a challenge. Lots to think about and it could be fitted nicely into our planned plot.

Finalist 2 - MIGRAIN by Ben Jones

At first we thought this one must have been drawn on a computer, it is so neatly drawn. We love the idea of the brains housed in various locations around the boss, offering a range of challenges to destroy them all. Especially great, however, is the inclusion of information about the world surrounding the boss. The designer has thought about the whole fight senario, not just the boss itself - the blast doors blocking both the enemy laser and the player's ship add that extra dimension of difficulty to this carefully thought out and well-rounded boss design.

Finalist 3 by Guilherme Töws

We were really taken by this boss as soon as we saw it. The rotating layered segments both house a range of weapons themselves but also protect the inner core which is the vulnerable area of this boss. Destroying this boss will involve careful timing to both avoid being shot whilst managing to hit the core while it is briefly exposed. With the rotating layers, each of which could be eventually blasted away, this boss could be a lot of fun to create and even more fun to fight!

Finalist 4 by Brodie Gibson & Finalist 5 by C Barrett

These two have been grouped together as there are many similarities in the designs, although they were created at totally different shows. Both have huge tooth-lined maws which can swallow or trap the ship inside, and both have jellyfish type stinging tentacles (although one has them on the back and one on the front) to damage or snare the ship. With warty, scaly skin, these creepy deep-sea creature inspired designs would fit very nicely into the underwater levels in the game.

Finalist 6 by Alex Saxton

This seemingly simple design is actually very clever and scientific. The boss is an atom, the nucleus of which is protected by an negatively electrically charged orbiting cloud of electrons. As these are destroyed, the atom has to maintain electrical neutrality and so loses a positively charged proton at the same time. This could fire at the ship or cause some other damaging effect. Once all the electrons (and protons) are gone, there will just be a neutron filled nucleus. How easy will that be to destroy?

Finalist 7 by Alex Wylie

Another boss design with moving 'shells' around an inner core, this one has closer layers, and more of them, than Finalist 3. The layers rotate and occasionally the gaps line up to fire 4 missiles off in 4 different directions. We can see this boss working brilliantly if the layers are touching (like an onion) and can rotate into a range of positions to fire different weapons. A lucky, well timed shot could destroy the inner core but this would be almost impossble, so destroying each layer in turn could weaken the whole boss, reduce weapon damage and ultimately destroy it.

Finalist 8 by Henry Barton-wong

This super piece of artwork could easily be the huge worm-like monster that devours the ship, leading to the planned set of levels inside it's body. The weapons described would provide a fantastic challenge for the player - sticky tentacles to snare the ship, a stunning flash of light to dazzle sensors, a vulnerable but dangerous tongue, impenetrable teeth and even a uvula at the back of the mouth as the ultimate weak spot. Perhaps that has to be shot at close range which then triggers the swallow reflex.....

Finalist 9 by Sean Innes

Whilst appearing to be just another spherical enemy, this boss has a range of weapons bristling all over it's surface. It can rotate or roll to bring different weapons into play - perhaps in a predictable sequence that the player can take advantage of? The core itself is an energy weapon, but destroying it will be a challenge as the blast doors protecting it only open when it is going to fire....

Finalist 10 by Jason Turner & Finalist 11 by Finn Rose

Both these entries had the same ingenious idea, a black and evil clone of the players own white ship. Possibly even with it's own version of the buddies and the power bar, this sneaky boss will mirror every move and shot the player makes. So how can it be beaten? Is it an absolutely perfect copy, or does it have hidden weaknesses?

Finalist 12 - Scorpogoat by Jolyon Webb

Scorpogoat - this beautifully drawn and well described chimera creature is fearsome to behold and even worse to fight. With almost every weapon imaginable somewhere on it's mutant body, from fireballs to poisonous tentacles, laser eyes to acid breath this creature would provide a huge challenge to even the most experienced Tenacious Class pilot, let alone an unskilled one.... And just as the player thinks they can beat it, it starts producing baby goat-wasps which block missiles and home in on the player's ship, stingers dripping with toxins.

What next?

The standard of all the 130+ entries was very high and we would like to thank everyone who entered. Now that the Kickstarter has completed successfully we'll be working on the game full time for the next few months.